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Sergio Pérez climbs through pack to finish strong second at Monza

September 8, 2012

Sergio Pérez came from 12th place on the grid all the way to second at the Italian Grand Prix. Photo by LAT PHOTOGRAPHIC

Sergio Pérez took a stunning second place for Sauber in the Italian Grand Prix after starting only 12th on the grid. The Mexican was the highest-placed driver to start on the hard rather than the medium tires. He was able to find unexpected speed with them, and was able to run a long opening stint as he worked his way up the order.

In the second half of the race, he was on the medium tires while those ahead were on the hard, and on the rubbered-in track, that proved just the ticket. He passed both Ferraris and was closing on winner Lewis Hamilton at the end of the race.

“It was really enjoyable,” said Pérez. “One of those races where you have the pace, and you are the one attacking. It was very crucial moments during the race, especially during my first stint, to go that long and to be able to keep the pace was not easy at all. I did quite a lot of laps on those tires.

“Then in the second stint we managed to go maximum attack, and I was able to have good fighting with some drivers. It was just a great race.

“With the first stint I was a bit worried, especially with the data we had from Friday. I was a bit worried I was feeling some degradation from the tires, so I was a bit worried that it was going to drop, that the tire was going to drop but once I got until lap 20 it was looking really good.

“Before that I was in contact with the team every lap, trying to say that everything was fine. Every lap I asked them to stay in contact every lap, just in case we were in need to change the strategy.”

Pérez admitted that qualifying had been something of a mess.

“I don't think we had the pace in qualifying, on a single lap, to be even close to gaining the front row or close to the top five," Pérez said. "We were not quick at all, we were lacking too much speed on the straights, and that was our problem. I've been sick all weekend. It's been difficult, but it did not affect me at all, just yesterday in qualifying I did not have the good lap.

“I was too close to Bruno Senna so I lost a lot of downforce--it was the reason why we qualified just out of the top 10. Maybe top 10 was reachable, but more than that, not. It helped us, in a way, to change the strategy. We risk, I don't know if we were the only one, or one of a few, to go for prime and it worked quite well. We were a bit worried about the warm up in the beginning, but it worked quite OK.

Pérez downplayed the fact that he passed two Ferraris.

“I'm fighting for my team and will always fight for the team that I'm in. I will always give my maximum I can," he said. "And I will fight any driver, no matter if it's Fernando [Alonso] or Lewis [Hamilton], I will fight for my team to get the result--and I think every driver will do the same.”